WWII COLOR Photos

Kodachrome, the first color film, invented around 1935, does not fade with time, unlike the more common Ektachrome film that came later. 4x5 cameras used film 4"x5" in size, rather than the small 35mm size we are so used to, so the details were crystal sharp. These photos are from the WWII era and give you a lump in your throat as you see a different time in the world so sharply portrayed. Unbelievably sharp 4x5 Kodachromes taken in 1942-1943 by various identified photographers for the Office of War Information.Click on each photo to enlarge!

​Here's our mission. A combat crew receives final instructions just before taking off in a mighty YB-17 bomber from a bombardment squadron base at the field, in Langley Field, Virginia, in May of 1942.

In 1942, soon after the United States entered World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order creating the Office of War Information (OWI). The new agency was tasked with releasing war news, promoting patriotic activities, and providing news outlets with audio, film, and photos of the government's war efforts. Between 1939 and 1944, the OWI and the Farm Security Administration made thousands of photographs, approximately 1,600 of them in color. In the early war years, OWI photographers Alfred Palmer and Howard Hollem produced some exceptional Kodachrome transparencies depicting military preparedness, factory operations, and women in the work force. While most of the scenes were posed, the subjects were the real thing -- soldiers and workers preparing for a long fight. Gathered here are some of these color images from Palmer and Hollem, complete with original captions from 1942.